A supposedly good thing I'll never drink again

S

Sharon Bowman

Sharon Bowman
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So, here we go.

I like oxidative wines (well, within reason; still grappling with the vin jaune issue). I love the wines of Domaine Valette in the Mconnais. So, imagine my surprise when A.S. says to me, "You've never had the 'Clos de Monsieur Noly'?" Implied: I should. Fast.

Well, as it turns out, this is a super-atypical Pouilly-Fuiss from Valette. He keeps it in barriques (old oak) for eight years. It comes out heady and walnutty, in theory.

I headed over to Aug. 62 ($90). Got teased by the young caviste ("Oh, my, how well we are drinking these days. We are affording ourself some Monsieur Noly").

Brought home. Chilled. Prepared food that should go well. What was it? I forget, it was a few weeks ago. But there was old Comt on the cheese platter.

Opened. Poured a bit. Tasted. Hm. Well, and hm.

God damn if the oxidation did not obliterate everything else. I was supremely let down. There was a lot of body to this wine, but it had nothing of a Pouilly-Fuiss; it was a fat, placeless thing.

What a comedown.

But then, I can always console myself with a Valette Vir-Cless. Simple, heady, gorgeous, unforgettable.
 
Valette would argue you need to keep the wine another 15 or 20 years.

I'm skeptical and also like his Vir-Cless.

Oddly, I tend to think that the best spots in Cless and Vir are the best terroirs of the Mconnais and among the world's great vineyards for Chardonnay. To me, those sites are among the great premier ctes for Chardonnay. Then again, I've been drinking Thevenet and Goyard for over 20 years so might be biased.
 
The Nolys wasn't made that way in the old days. Maybe this particular barrel was left for 8 years or whatever.

I think you are confusing good and bad oxidation. Good "oxidation" gives the wine a bit of air, like racking or barrel aging, and it prevents the wine from retarding towards reduction where all sorts of nasties can come in to play (Dougherty will have to explain that). Bad oxidation results in a wine that just tastes oxidized. This is a flaw, not a technique.

Did your senses leave you? Are you so susceptible to the hipsterish charmes of young cavistes in Paris?

I've been drinking Valette wines for a long time, 15 years or so, and I liked them a lot more when they were more "conventional".
 
Love the title of the post, but the wine is a little dodgy.

Maybe it'll be better in a couple of days? The problem with oxidative wines is that it's difficult to know what a pristine example would resemble. As a salesperson, I'd always just tell the quizzical customer: "it's supposed to taste like that, what are you, some sort of uneducated peasant or something?"

-Eden (for some reason, that explanation doesn't go over too well when I'm the quizzical customer)
 
I can drink Radikon at any temperature.

Lopez is a different story and also not "oxidized" really. They're just old and weird. Lovely, but weird. No way that they are sans souffre or anything like that, are they?
 
Maybe it's just spoiled wine. Reminds me of Van der Heyden wines in southern Napa Valley. He produces Cab, Chard, Zin, and I think Merlot. Ages them for years in barrels, no topping. The dingy, dusty office attests to the laissez-faire nature of the winemaking. It's all very quaint and fun until you taste the wines. Let's just say they aren't overly fruity. The late harvest wines are interesting curiosities.
 
originally posted by Joe Dressner:
Valette would argue you need to keep the wine another 15 or 20 years.
Click to expand...

Would the terroir come back out?

Tell me more, actually, about the changes in the domaine; I'm curious. A.S. told me there was a rift between father and son.
 
Is it exported?

What is it about Vin Jaune that you have issues with? Is it similar to your issues with this wine?

Best,
Joe
 
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